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Sample School Letters

School Opening Hours

Recommended wording for the circular to parents regarding opening hours. Times shown here are for example only.

"The school will open to receive pupils at 8.45a.m. No responsibility is accepted for pupils arriving before that time. Classes will commence each day at 9.15a.m. No pupil should arrive later than 9.10am. Classes will end each day at 3.30p.m. Parents who wish to have their children escorted home should make their own arrangements to have them met at the school gate and the person to escort them should be at the school no later than 3.30p.m as the school cannot accept responsibility for looking after the children after that time. In the case of children travelling by the school bus, the school cannot accept responsibility for escorting them from the bus to the school or from the school to the bus. Those parents who feel that their children need to be escorted on these occasions should make arrangements to ensure that some escort is provided."

Work Experience:

We have included articles on this important subject in our newsletters on many occasions in the past. These have included suggested wordings of letters which schools should issue to employers and these wordings are reproduced below. Within the last year or so, we have been notified of a number of incidents which involved injury to pupils and damage to employers property and where, on investigation, it was found that schools had used letters composed by themselves. These letters caused employers to misunderstand the true insurance position. Consequently, in some cases it was necessary for Allianz to deal with claims made by employers which might otherwise have been avoided.

For this reason, it is extremely important that the wordings below are the only ones used by schools. Initially, "Letter A" should be issued to all employers. In those cases where the limited indemnity to employers is necessary, the details of placement should be submitted to the Company. When cover is approved "Letter B" should then be issued.

LETTER A

"Work Experience is part of the career education programme at this school. The insurance policy held by the school indemnifies the Board of Management against any legal liability it incurs in connection with the participation of students in the Work Experience programme. In the case of employers who provide opportunities for Work Experience for our students, they are normally indemnified by their own insurance policies.

It is normal practice within the insurance industry for insurers to provide the appropriate indemnity to employers who facilitate Work Experience programmes. Moreover, our experience has been that insurers make no additional charge for including students under an employer's policy. However, should an additional charge be levied, the Board of Management will reimburse the employer".

LETTER B

"We wish to confirm that under the Public Liability Section of our school insurance policy our Insurer provides an indemnity to the school in respect of our legal liability, as defined in the policy, arising from or in any way associated with any work experience schemes and transition year placements organised by the school or in which we participate, including indemnity to any employer in respect of the performance of such work by any student, subject always to the terms Definitions Conditions Exclusions and limitations of this Section and our Policy ".

Authorisation Note

As a general rule, the school authorities should know where all the children are at all times. If children go home for lunch, the parents should be asked to sign an authorisation note and the following wording is recommended:

"This is to acknowledge that we have requested the Manager and Teachers to allow our child (or children) (...name(s)...) to leave the school premises at lunch time. We are aware that some accident may befall the child on their way from or on their return to the school and we hereby absolve and release the Manager and Teachers from all claims of every nature and kind in respect of any injury or loss or accident which may be suffered by the child during lunch time."

The form should be addressed to the school, indicate the names of the child or children, signed by the parents and dated.